This invention relates generally to the field of product marketing purchase award systems and more specifically to a method and processes for a secure real time purchase validation award system.
Awards based on purchases of products and services have long been used as a key marketing tool. There were only two major types of rewards, coupons which are available to the purchaser prior to the purchase of the item designated by that coupon and rebates which are awarded some time after the purchase of an item that is qualified to receive some type of that rebate. Items can be either products or services or any combination of products and services. Coupons are used at the time of the purchase and were supplied to the purchaser prior to the purchase of the item designated by that coupon and only require that the purchaser submit the coupon at the time of purchase. Premiums and sweepstakes are also award systems that are sometimes utilized as marketing tools.
Rebates on the other hand require that the purchaser request the rebate after the purchase of the item qualified to receive such a rebate. Rebates can be either a predetermined cash value to the purchaser or a variable based on the purchase price and are satisfied by a payment or credit issued to the purchaser.
As such rebate-style systems have evolved, they have changed into a multifaceted award system, which includes cash based rebates, rewards, refunds, premiums, entry into sweepstakes, gift cards, debit cards, credit cards, gift certificates, electronic gift certificates and credits to various accounts.
As this award based marketing has grown in size and scope with many more products and services covered by some type of award, there has developed a need for operations that can process the many award requests. Such operation are called fulfillment operations or fulfillment service providers (FSP). These FSP operations can be, but are not limited to the following: companies that provide such fulfillment services as their sole business, part of marketing promotion companies, Web hosting service companies, a software based operation that outsources the fulfillment activities, a part of a retailers operation, a part of a manufacturers op ration or a part of catalog sales operations.
Selling operations can be operations with physical stores, service providers and those that only use the Internet for their selling or any combination of sales channels. Selling operations can include, but are not limited to: retailers, distributors, manufacturers, marketing promotion companies, auctions and service providers.
In the prior art which is illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 1, in step 10 the purchaser buys a qualified item from a selling operation where such qualified item provides for some type of award based on that purchase. At the time of purchase and/or delivery of the item, in the next step 20, the purchaser receives the award request form along with a receipt. The purchaser as part of step 20 fills out the information requested on the award request form along with other required information which may include such things as: the product UPC (Universal Product Code). the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) identification, serial number or service identification number. This information is required as part of the verification process to allow the FSP to confirm the purchase of the qualified item. The required information can also include the receipt, either an original or copy depending on the terms of the specific award program. In some cases, the purchaser will be provided with special receipts that show only the qualified item and can be used solely for the purpose of requesting the award. Finally after filling out the award request form and supplying all of the required information, the purchaser mails the award request to the FPS using the address provided as part of the award request form.
Then is step 30 the FSP worker opens the mail with the award request form and other required information. In step 40, this worker or another FSP worker then reviews all of the information in the award request and matches it to the award offer. This step 40 is the most critical function performed by the FSP and is called purchase validation.
In step 50, a FSP worker enters data into a computer database.
In step 60 a FSP worker processes and mails out the award to the purchaser who submitted that award request form.
In step 70 the purchaser receives the award via the mail and the process is completed.
In some cases, this process is modified so that the purchaser can combine several award requests into one form which is then mailed to the FSP and processed using the same flow as shown in FIG. 1. All of the required information and the receipts are needed as a part of this combined award request.
In other cases, following the submittal of information in step 20, the purchaser may have the option of checking the status of the rebate request using the Internet.
Some methods have been developed to try to improve on the process of handling such award requests. The major development has been the use of Web sites to allow the purchaser to request a product marketing rebate where that Web site is also accessible to the selling operation. In this method the purchaser uses a computer to access the Web site where that purchaser provides the necessary information for a rebate including some type of transaction code provided at the time of purchase and/or delivery. This information is stored by the FSP in some type of database. The FSP then receives a large file from the selling operation containing as a minimum all of the transactions that would qualify for a rebate for a given period of time. The file may even contain all sales from that selling operation for that given period of time. The FSP must then store all of that large file in a database and then associate the data received from the purchaser with the data received from the selling operation to complete the purchase validation operation and to then finish processing that rebate request into a cash value for the purchaser.
One of the problems with the prior art as shown in FIG. 1 is that the process takes anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks to complete and requires significant effort by the purchaser to collect all of the information, fill out the form and mail out the award request. Many potential purchasers avoid purchasing item with rewards associated with them because of the time-consuming and extensive effort required.
Still another problem with the present Web site based system is that it is limited to rebate offers. This creates problems for the selling operations since they can not use the full range of possible awards such as: premiums, rewards, sweepstakes entries, gift certificates, electronic gift certificates and credits to various accounts.
The other problem associated with the Web site rebate method is the large data files that must be transmitted from the selling operation to the FSP and then stored by the FSP. This is costly and time-consuming for both the FSP and the selling operation. Another concern with sending such data are potential issues with privacy violation, confidentiality, and security concerns.